Osborne Downplays Image As A Baritone Sex Symbol

July 19, 1985|By Steve Morse, The Boston Globe

Singer Jeffrey Osborne received some good-natured ribbing from New Englanders when he showed up at Boston Garden to root for the Los Angeles Lakers against the Boston Celtics in their playoff series. Hadn`t he been born and raised in Providence, R.I.? Isn`t that Celtics country?

``I was sitting with Isiah Thomas and Magic Thompson`s attorney, George Anderson,`` he recalls of that fateful sixth game in which the Celtics were eliminated. ``We were the only three in there who were Los Angeles fans. It was kind of intimidating, so we had to be pretty quiet and only nudge each other when things were going well for the Lakers.``

Osborne can perhaps be excused since he has lived in Los Angeles since 1969 and become close friends with several of the Lakers. He also has sung the national anthem 13 times at Lakers games in the Los Angeles Forum.

Basketball aside, Osborne has impeccable New England roots. As the youngest of 12 children of a jazz trumpeter, he got into music early and went on to play clubs all around the region. His brother Clay has a local band, the Jay Clay Trio, while his sister, Jeanine, has helped run Sonny & Dennis` nightclub in Providence.

``I started singing in nightclubs when I was 13, then got into local groups at 15, working seven nights a week,`` said Osborne, who sings tonight at Miami Knight Center. ``Then I went on to play at the Sugar Shack and Paul`s Mall in Boston and places in Revere. I`ve played a lot in New England.``

His big break came when he was discovered in Providence by the hit group LTD. He stayed with them for 10 years before turning solo in 1981.

``They saw me working at a club, then asked me to come see them,`` he says. ``I remember it was a bad night and it was snowing and their drummer got into a fight. So they needed a drummer to fill in, and it just so happened I was in the right place at the right time.``

Like Lionel Richie with the Commodores, Osborne talks of only fond memories from his LTD years. ``That`s when I developed as a songwriter and vocalist,`` he says. ``I learned a tremendous amount about the business when I was with them. Without LTD, I wouldn`t be a solo artist today.``

Although he`s still looking for his first Top 10 pop hit -- Don`t Stop, the biggest cut from his last album by the same name, made the Top 40 -- he is popular in concert because of a loyal following especially among women who view him as a sex symbol.

``A lot of it has to do with the register of my voice. I`m a baritone, while most other singers are tenors. That deep voice and masculine sound I guess gives me quote-unquote `sex appeal.` My wife also shops with me to make sure I wear clothes a woman would want to see. But I don`t blow it out of proportion, because I don`t want to offend men.``

He often hears comparisons to another former sex symbol, Teddy Pendergrass, who is now confined to a wheelchair after a car accident several years ago.

``Ever since he got into that accident, people have been labeling me the next Teddy Pendergrass,`` Osborne says. ``But I hate to think I`d only be here because there`s a void to fill. He was a very, very hard-core macho person, but I`m a little more low-key than that. I think my ballads are more subtle.

``But at least,`` he adds, ``It`s nice to be compared to someone at the top.``